Integrity to absorb Mercy Home Health operations in SWMO

Integrity Home Care Inc. agreed to take over Mercy Home Health & Hospice’s operations in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas.

The merger is part of a partnership deal between Integrity and Mercy designed to help patients who are moving out of the health system’s facilities into their homes, according to a news release.

The merger’s financial terms were not disclosed, though Mercy will become a shareholder of Integrity and gain a board spot at the company through the deal.

“We plan to integrate Integrity with our electronic health record, so our doctors and clinical teams will be able to monitor and respond to even more home care patients’ conditions,” said Jon Swope, president of Mercy Springfield Communities and the St. Louis-based health system’s central region, in the release. “That kind of coordinated care will reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital readmissions because we can intervene more quickly.”

Springfield-based Integrity, which also has offices in Joplin, Lebanon, Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis, will take on Mercy Home Health’s employees in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. A transition team expects to complete its work by this fall.

“This partnership makes great sense,” Swope said in the release. “Along with their great quality scores, Integrity shares our faith-based mission and core values and puts patients at the center of making decisions about their own care. Our caregivers do the same and I know they will be valuable members of this new organization.”

Integrity ranked second on Springfield Business Journal’s annual list of the area’s largest home health care agencies, published earlier this month. The company reported average monthly patent visits of 169,908 in its 60-county coverage area, as well as $55 million in annual revenue and 1,114 local staff members. Mercy Home Health was surveyed but did not respond.